Ocean Expert Delves Into Sea Life

Life in the World’s Oceans, a new, 30-part video course by College of the Atlantic Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Sciences Dr. Sean Todd, takes viewers underwater to explore deadly microorganisms, massive marine mammals, and everything in between.

A new online course called Life in the World's Oceans, hosted by educational platform The Great Courses, is taught by Dr. Sean Todd, the Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Sciences at COA and Director of Allied Whale.

Chantilly, VA — The Great Courses has partnered with the Smithsonian to produce a vivid exploration of the underwater world in Life in the World’s Oceans—a new video course taught by one of the world’s leading marine biologists, Dr. Sean K. Todd, a professor at the College of the Atlantic and director at Allied Whale.

Life in the World's Oceans, presented by COA Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Sciences Dr. Sean Todd, gives viewers get an unprecedented chance to get up close and personal with the underwater world.Giant worms, microorganisms that eat metal, faceless fish, giant sea spiders—marine life is even more otherworldly and fantastical than we ever imagined. Life in the World’s Oceans takes viewers from the tiny phytoplankton that can only float at the whim of wind and currents to the giant gray whale that migrates 16,000 kilometers each year, and brings them face to face with everything in between.

“Even if you live in the most landlocked area, you feel the influence of the ocean, its effects on climate, the air that you breathe, or maybe just the fish that you eat,” Todd says. “As a community of species, we are extremely lucky to live on a planet that possesses an ocean so bountiful.”

Created in close consultation with Don Wilson, Curator Emeritus from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Life in the World’s Oceans offers viewers a fascinating look into the complex lives of marine mammals. Drawing on Professor Todd’s own exciting research and field experience, and enhanced by stunning visuals from the Smithsonian, the course features 30 insightful lectures, which work together to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject. Humpback whales are some of the many creatures explored by Dr. Sean Todd in Life in the World's Oceans. Credit: Christopher Michel/flickrProfessor Todd explores the variety of life in the seas and shares what we have only recently learned about biology, evolution, life cycles, and adaptations—starting with the ocean itself.

Swimming with dolphins, talking to whales, touring the barrier reef, plunging the depths of the seas—these are experiences that very few people get to share. With Life in the World’s Oceans, viewers get an unprecedented chance to get up close and personal with the underwater world, so they can better understand and appreciate the magnificence of that environment.

Dr. Sean Todd is the Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Sciences at COA and director of Allied Whale, the college's world-renowned marine mammal research and stranding response organization.Sean K. Todd holds the Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Sciences at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Professor Todd received a Joint Honours undergraduate degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography from Bangor University in the United Kingdom and his master’s and doctoral degrees in Biopsychology at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Todd joined the College of the Atlantic as a faculty member in Biology & Marine Mammals and became the inaugural holder of the Steven K. Katona Chair in Marine Sciences in 2006. That same year, he also became director of Allied Whale, the college’s marine mammal research program, which includes the Marine Mammal Stranding Response Program, one of two programs responsible for stranding response in Maine. Todd has authored or coauthored numerous papers.

College of the Atlantic is the first college in the U.S. to focus on the relationship between humans and the environment. The intentionally small school of 350 students and 35 faculty members offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in human ecology – the study of how humans interactCredit: Greg Mcfall/NOAA with our natural, social and technological environments. Each student develops their own course of study in human ecology, collaborating and innovating across multiple disciplines. Both The Sierra Club and The Princeton Review named College of the Atlantic the #1 Green College in the United States in 2016 and 2017.

Allied Whale, College of the Atlantic’s marine mammal research group, promotes the effective conservation of marine mammal populations and their habitats while providing students with field-based educational opportunities. Founded in 1972 by Steven Katona, Ph.D., Allied Whale has been instrumental in establishing essential research techniques that are now adopted worldwide. Comprised of COA faculty, staff, students, senior researchers, and research associates, Allied Whale remains dedicated to collaborative research and the international exchange of scientific information.

College of the Atlantic

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